Former Microsoft MSFT +0.82% CEO Steve Ballmer has offered $1.8 billion for the Los Angeles Clippers, according to a person familiar with Ballmer’s interest in the NBA team. Ballmer, who retired as Microsoft’s CEO four months ago, has a net worth of $20 billion. Another source, with intimate knowledge of the bids that Rochelle Sterling has thus far received for the basketball team, said offers have come in between $1 billion and $2 billion and that the Ballmer package is strong.

Embattled Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling is planning to sue the National Basketball League after he was forced to relinquish control of the team, NBC News has learned. A source close to Sterling says that he will file a lawsuit this afternoon seeking damages in excess of $1 billion

The Pas courthouse in the backwoods of Manitoba sits near the local jail, set back from the road by a quarter-mile of rolling green lawn. It’s a nondescript, one-story brick building that serves the small communities in the upper reaches of Canada’s Keystone province, where land disputes, petty theft and public drunkenness charges are brought before provincial judges and usually resolved with a handshake and a finger-wag.

A few weeks ago, I asked y'all a question: How will the NBA end? In order to respond, I requested that you also write me a poem about the eventual fate of the NBA. Over 600 of you were kind enough to weigh in. There was no consensus, really, but the most popular answer was, "it will end with societal collapse."

When Miami Heat forward Lebron James was forced to leave the court last night at the end of game one of the NBA Finals due to a leg cramp, it predictably elicited a chorus of jeers from diehard Lebron haters. Gatorade, meanwhile, saw it as a time to extoll the hydrating virtues of its product. One man’s misfortune is another’s real-time marketing opportunity, apparently.

Five years after his retirement, one of the greatest shot-blockers in NBA history is as visible as ever, thanks to a trademark finger-wag that helped him become an icon and clear a path for the league’s globalization.

Michael Jordan is now a billionaire. In February, my colleague and the Dean of athlete earnings, Kurt Badenhausen, pegged Jordan’s annual earnings at $90 million and his net worth at $750 million. But I have learned from sources familiar with the Charlotte Hornets that the former NBA great has increased his stake in his basketball team to 89.5% from 80% during the past several months.

When the Charlotte Hornets revealed their jerseys yesterday, eagle-eyed observers like Uni Watch's Paul Lukas noticed something odd—the NBA logo, which had previously appeared on jerseys on the upper left chest area, had been moved to the back of the uniform. That's an awful lot of blank space created, but worry not; the NBA knows exactly what to do with it.

Moochie Norris recognized that face. As basketballs danced and shoes screeched across the court, Norris zeroed in on the teenager. How did Norris know him? For years, Norris had scratched and clawed his way to a respectable NBA career, most notably in a pair of stints with the Houston Rockets as a pass-first point guard with a blown-out Afro that added a few inches to his 6-foot-1 frame. Now 40, Norris is an assistant coach at Houston’s Victory Prep.

This would be useful. When the Sixers selected Kansas center Joel Embiid with the third overall pick in the NBA Draft on Thursday night, they had a pretty good idea that he wasn't going to play much...

Chris Bosh told the Miami Heat that he, like LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, would be exercising the early termination option in his contract and forgoing the final two years on his deal — making him a free agent. The move, which was not a surprise, gives the Heat a huge amount of financial flexibility when the free-agent window officially opens at midnight Tuesday.

LOS ANGELES -- Shelly Sterling is back on the stand, facing friendly questioning from her lawyer, Pierce O'Donnell. He's taking her through her discussions with NBA commissioner Adam Silver about selling the

The San Antonio Spurs made history on Tuesday, hiring six-time WNBA all-star Becky Hammon as an assistant coach. Hammon, who is currently finishing up her 16th year as a player in the women’s league, will become the first female assistant coach in the NBA when she begins the job.

A little over a week ago, news got out that Metta World Peace has agreed to a one-year deal worth $1.43 million — making him the highest paid import player — to go play in China for the Sichuan Blue Whales in the CBA this upcoming season. However, as if that news wasn’t big enough already, he took it a step further by announcing that the move overseas will bring a new name.

USA Basketball National Team Managing Director Jerry Colangelo today announced that Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder) has informed USA Basketball that he was withdrawing from participating with the 2014 USA National Team and from consideration for the 2014 USA Basketball Men's World Cup Team roster. The USA National Team is scheduled to resume its 2014 preparations for the FIBA Basketball World Cup on Aug. 14 in Chicago.

All you need is Love to form a new Big Three for LeBron James in Cleveland. The Cavaliers’ whirlwind summer continued on Thursday amid reports that they have reached an agreement to acquire All-Star forward Kevin Love from the Minnesota Timberwolves to pair with James, who rejoined his hometown team last month as a free agent after four seasons in Miami.